Albert Ogletree, a food handler with Forte Food Service, was working in the cafeteria at Cantor Fitzgerald in the north tower of the World Trade Center when a hijacked jetliner careered into the skyscraper. He is one of the 2,983 people killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and Feb. 26, 1993, when the trade center was bombed.

He is also one of only 10 victims whose portraits are not in the vast gallery at the National September 11 Memorial Museum, on the trade center site in Lower Manhattan. Museum officials have tried for years, without luck, to find someone who can furnish a picture of Mr. Ogletree — on vacation, perhaps; under a mortar board at graduation; beaming with happiness at his wedding; or hunched over a sketch pad drawing cars, something he loved to do.

Faces have defined the events of Sept. 11 since the earliest hours. On lampposts, bulletin boards and hospital walls, “Missing” posters beseeched passers-by to recall whether they had seen this face or that. Faces filled the pages of The New York Times and other publications and websites. Portraits were carried, facing the public, by survivors at memorial services and protest gatherings.

The museum’s goal is simple and increasingly challenging: to gather every face and weave it into the overwhelming tapestry of grief, loss, life and joy on display in the memorial gallery.

“Our objective from the get-go was to make sure that anyone declared a victim is depicted on that wall,” Jan Seidler Ramirez, the museum’s chief curator, said.

Those victims include everyone killed on Sept. 11 in New York, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pa., as well as the six people killed in the 1993 bombing.

“To make that connection to the names outside, that’s really at the heart of our mission,” Dr. Ramirez said. “We’re not about abstract statistics. We’re about honoring each and every person who was killed that day, creating an opportunity for friends and family to see the faces they loved.”

Three families have told museum officials they do not want their relatives’ portraits shown publicly. That leaves seven to find.

The gallery has room for 3,000 5-by-7-inch portraits, arrayed in 250 columns and 12 rows. The 10 victims whose portraits are missing can be found in their alphabetical spots. Instead of a face, each is represented by a single leaf, green tinged with red, of a swamp white oak, the kind planted on the plaza, where the victims’ names are inscribed in panels around twin memorial pools.

The missing pictures the museum seeks are of Gregorio Manuel Chavez, 48; Kerene Gordon, 43; Michael William Lomax, 37; Wilfredo Mercado, 37; Mr. Ogletree, 49; Antonio Dorsey Pratt, 43; and Ching Ping Tung, 44. (Visitors to the gallery can pick out the other three by finding the oak leaves and accompanying names. Given their families’ wish for privacy, The Times is not identifying them.)

Four of the seven — Mr. Chavez, Ms. Gordon, Mr. Ogletree and Mr. Pratt — worked in food service, suggesting that they came from lower-income families whose public footprint may not be too large. And whether those killed were poor or rich, their survivors might well have moved away from New York. Addresses have grown out of date. Telephones have been disconnected. Trails have gone cold.

It has been 15 years, after all.

Gathering nearly 3,000 portraits, an extraordinary enterprise in itself, began long before the museum opened.

The first cache, Dr. Ramirez said, came from the Justice Department, which had assembled photographs to introduce as evidence at the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11 plot. Those proceedings ended in 2006.

Then came head shots from the New York Fire and Police Departments, the Port Authority Police Department and companies or institutions with a large presence at the trade center, like Cantor Fitzgerald, Aon, Marsh & McLennan and the Windows on the World restaurant. One-third of all those killed at the trade center on Sept. 11 were either firefighters or Cantor employees.

The biggest step forward came with the collaboration of a group called Voices of September 11. Its 9/11 Living Memorial is composed of images and remembrances from family members. The group asked contributors if the content of their tributes could be transferred to the museum. Nearly 500 said yes, Dr. Ramirez said.

By the time the museum opened in 2014, 21 portraits were missing. More than 100 have either been added or replaced with better pictures or higher-quality versions of existing portraits.

“We’re constantly trying to figure out how to find somebody who keeps the memory candle lit who can help us,” Dr. Ramirez said.

This month, The Times’s research desk joined the search.

Mr. Chavez. Born in the Dominican Republic, he worked at Windows on the World. Calls to his widow were not returned, Dr. Ramirez said, and attempts to reach a niece and a nephew were fruitless. The Times found a woman living in Manhattan who may be his sister and forwarded her contact information to the museum; it did the same with information for a man who may be Mr. Chavez’s son.

Ms. Gordon. She came to New York from Kingston, Jamaica, and worked for Forte as a food handler. Dr. Ramirez said the museum had been in touch with her son and her sister in 2012 and 2014, but no picture had materialized. The Times found the name of a woman in Queens who may be a relative and sent it to the museum.

Mr. Lomax. A native of Manchester, England, Mr. Lomax was an executive at Aon. He lived in Brooklyn. Three efforts to reach his widow were unavailing, Dr. Ramirez said, and the September 11 U.K. Families Support Group did not have his picture. The Times printed a head shot of Mr. Lomax in 2002 and provided the museum with leads to his widow and to his father.

Mr. Mercado. He was a purchasing agent for Windows on the World and was killed in the 1993 bombing. Born in Lima, Peru, Mr. Mercado lived in the East New York section of Brooklyn. Dr. Ramirez said the museum had “tried extensively” to reach his widow. The Times found what appears to be a picture of Mr. Mercado on the Facebook page of one of his daughters and forwarded what may be her telephone number to the museum.

Mr. Ogletree. He came from Michigan. A “distant cousin” has told the museum he might be able to locate a photograph and send a copy to the museum, Dr. Ramirez said.Mr. Pratt. A native New Yorker, Mr. Pratt worked as a food handler for Forte. “The next of kin had a disconnected phone,” Dr. Ramirez said. “There was no email address and nothing but returned letters from the address of record.” She said the museum was now working on leads with the Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund, which serves survivors of those who worked in the food, beverage and hospitality industries.

Mr. Tung. A resident of Queens and native of Hong Kong, Mr. Tung was employed at the First Commercial Bank. Letters to his widow were returned as undeliverable in 2012, 2013 and 2014, Dr. Ramirez said, and there was no answer at a home telephone number. The Times learned that Mr. Tung might have gone by an Anglicized first name and provided the museum with the phone number of someone in Queens whom he may have known.

“There is no trail we will not pursue,” Dr. Ramirez said.

Now there are a few more.

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MISSION STATEMENT

It is our position that shariah law imposes second class status on women and is incompatible with the standards of liberal Western societies and the basic principles of human rights that include equality under the law and the protection of individual freedoms. The shariah code mandates the complete authority of men over women, including the control of their movement, education, marital options, clothing, bodies, place of residence and all other aspects of their existence. Further, it calls for the beating, punishment, and murder of women who don’t comply with shariah requirements.
In our efforts to stem the encroachment of shariah in the West, we are focusing on the following objectives:

Education of the American public about the inherent human rights violations and the attempt to undermine or replace U.S. law and American statutes with Islamic shariah

Alerting policy makers and legislators to potential human rights and equal rights violations and working toward the development of possible remedies and legal actions

Building coalitions with like-minded organizations to develop policy initiatives and interventions for victims of shariah.

IMPORTANT TERMS

Shariah: an all-encompassing and in-transmutable system of Islamic jurisprudence, found in the Koran and the Sunnah, that covers all aspect of life, including daily routines, hygiene, familial roles and responsibilities, social order and conduct, directives on relationships with Muslims and non-Muslims, religious obligations, financial dealings and many other facets of living.

Ird: the sexual purity of a woman that confers honor to her husband, family and community. Ird is based on the traditional standards of behavior set forth in the shariah code and includes subservience to male relatives, modest dress which could include veiling and the covering of the body, and restricted movement outside of the home. The loss of a woman’s ird confers shame upon her family and can result in ostracism by the community, economic damage, political consequences and the loss of self esteem.

Zina: the Koranic word for sexual relations outside of marriage. Under shariah law, Zina is punished by lashings, imprisonment or stoning to death.

FGM: female genital mutilation refers to the partial or complete removal of the female genitalia for religious and cultural reasons. It is practiced to preserve a female’s chastity and dampen her sexual desire. FGM is permitted in the Koran but required by the Shafi’i, one of the four schools of shariah law within Sunni Islam.

Honor Killing: a murder, usually of a female, committed to restore the social and political standing of a family or community when it is believed that the victim has violated traditional behavioral expectations. Such violations can include improper covering of the body, appearing in public without a male relative chaperone, talking to an unrelated male, or exhibiting independence in thought and action. An honor killing can also be based on hearsay or gossip that is perceived as damaging to a woman’s relatives.

Forced Marriage: a marriage that is conducted without the consent of one or both parties in which duress is a factor. Such duress can include violence or physical intimidation, psychological abuse, blackmailing, kidnapping, or threats of imprisonment or institutional confinement.

SLAVERY IN ISLAM

Islam permits the taking of slaves as “booty” or as a reward for waging jihad. Slavery became a Muslim tradition at the time that Mohammed moved to Medina and amassed sufficient power for the enslavement of non-Muslims.
Slavery is an accepted part of Islamic society and is never viewed in a negative way in the Koran, Sira or Hadith. In fact, it is a God-given right for Muslims to have slaves.
[6:7] Allah has given more of His gifts of material things to some rather than others. In the same manner, those who have more do not give an equal share to their slaves so that they would share equally. Would they then deny the favors of Allah.

Although Islam has sustained slavery for 1400 years, a Muslim may never be enslaved. Only non-believers or kafirs may be enslaved and may be eligible for freedom upon conversion to Islam at the discretion of the slave owner. Slavery is viewed as a moral good in Islam as it transforms a kafir into a believer.

Slaves have no means for legal action in Islam and their rights are based solely on the good will of their master. If a slave flees his master, this is view as a sin against Allah.

Slaves have few civil or legal rights.

The following are rules pertaining to slavery from the Shariah:

1) Muslim men may have sex with female slaves at any time and it is not possible to “rape” a slave.

2) Slaves have the same status as animals and it is permissible to whip them.

3) No Muslim can be put to death for murdering a slave.

4) A slave’s testimony is inadmissible in court.

5) Slaves can be forced to marry whomever their master chooses and may not choose their marriage mate.

6) Christians and Jews who do not pay the jizya or protection tax can be enslaved.

In his book, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters, historian Robert Davis estimates that North African Muslims abducted and enslaved more than 1 million white Christian Europeans from the coastal towns from Sicily to Cornwall between 1530 and 1780. Muslim slavers also seized people from Britain, Ireland, Iceland and even American seaman on ships in the Atlantic.

In a recent case of Muslim slavery in the United States, Sarah Khonaizan and her husband Homaidan Al-Turki were arrested for forced labor, sexual abuse and harboring an alien for enslaving an Indonesian housekeeper in their home in Colorado.
The couple reportedly brought the housekeeper to Colorado from Saudi Arabia to care for their five children and to cook and clean for the family. The Indonesian woman slept on the basement floor, was paid less than $2 per day and was the victim of rape.
Al-Turki and his defense attorney complained that they were being persecuted for their beliefs and stated, "The state has criminalized these basic Muslim behaviors. Attacking traditional Muslim behaviors was the focal point of the prosecution."
Al-Turki received letters of support from the local Muslim community and from his academic colleagues at the University of Colorado.
This case continues to arouse strong feelings in Saudi Arabia where there is great sympathy and support for Al-Turki.
On March 26, 2008, a high level Saudi official brought up the case in a meeting with Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. He urged Americans to review the case and mentioned the strong support for Al-Turki in Saudi Arabia.

RELIGION OF PEACE

IMPORTANT NOTE

Click on the title of each story in order to go to the original news story. Women Against Shariah does not claim copyright on any of the stories. This site should be considered a repository of news stories relating to Islamic matters. We aim to put all relevant news on this site so our viewers can locate these important stories in one place. Thank you.

ABOUT US

The mission of Women Against Shariah is to prevent and outlaw the imposition of shariah law in the United States for both Muslim and American women as either a parallel legal system or a replacement for existing laws. Additionally, we hope to empower women worldwide to resist shariah.